Wednesday, September 29, 2010

I read about a great way to use up your scrap pieces of paper in a magazine the other day. You can find instructions on how to do it here. But all in all, it is really easy! Mine looks different from the ones in that picture because I was less uniform in how I tore the papers. I like mine better :) The first picture is the finished product: two paper bowls (the second one technically was made from a cup and was much more difficult than the bowl). After looking at my scraps, I realized they were mostly purple, pink, yellow and black. So I just used those scraps (I had more, but wanted the colors to go together). This is a picture of them drying (I did end up adding a few more pieces in places that seemed thin or you could see through).Just the cup-finished product. The tag was one that didn't work out, and was thus thrown in the scrap pile-although you could cut out images to further decorate it. Or add a couple stamps! The pink and purple-side shot (I like taking multiple shots from multiple angles). Looking in...That is it! Not sure what I'm going to use them for yet. I will find a use, I'm sure :)

Not sure this goes with any challenges. Maybe Anything Goes, something round. But I will understand if they don't take it!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

I had so much fun making this card! The sketch I used is from Glitterbabe's Challenge Blog:I did my card landscape, but other than that I think I followed it pretty closely. Take a look.

On to the details: none of the papers I used had the brands printed on them (really wish they would do that so I could give them credit), the lace is from a stash my grandmother gave me (chances are good that it is nearly as old as I am. The petals on the sides (they look like hearts) are extras from the inside (which I will show you in a bit). The big flower is a traced image from the inside (again, you have to wait to see it). The blue pearls were on a sheet, maybe Creating Keepsakes? The digital image (blue) is from Stef of Glitterbabe (a freebie on her site). I just happened to have the stamp (embossed) from Autumn leaves which correlated perfectly with Stef's. I typed and printed off the sentiment. Here is an alternate view:

And one more:Alright, on to the inside! This is the first card I have ever created that I did the inside before the outside. That is because Dawny of Pink Piggy inspired me by making her own pop up flower card and she inserted the tutorial on her site (please visit this link to see how to do it). The flowers that look to be black are really dark blue. This image is part way open:This image showcases the sentiment, I believe it is from TLC or was it Sentimental Sundays?And here it is fully popped up! Notice, Stef, the glitter on the center flower (just for you).Do I have you wanting to make one of your own? I sure hope so :)

Monday, September 27, 2010

Yeah! A big shout out to Yolie from Just Yolie, Just Create for passing on this blog award to me. I am truly honored. She is very talented and I am inspired by her creations on a regular basis.The rules for this award are:1) Thank the person who gave you the award, Check!:2) Copy award to blog, Check!:3) Pass award to five blogs you love:

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Ok, so I've been planning these for some time. I searched garage sales for weeks trying to find throw pillows, because I wasn't willing to spend very much money on them when I was going to recover them. One Saturday after searching I came home to find that the apartment next door had put a pretty worn out couch to the curb. And guess what it had with it? Matching pillows! So I didn't even have to pay a penny for them (although I washed them several times before bringing them in from the hallway). So this is what I had to work with:The tear was present when I picked them up, but the washing machine made it larger. All in all, not a bad pattern, but they weren't meant to stay that way. I made them to match the wall hangings that I made awhile back to go in my bedroom view the post on how that all worked out here. The buttons did involve a quick run to Scrapbook Friend'z, a wonderful local shop (but I got 15 buttons for $0.54!!). I love going there, and I think my husband even had fun helping me pick out buttons...shh...don't tell!So... what do you think?! I find them to be a quite charming addition to my bedroom. I thought I remembered a challenge that said to alter something, but when I looked at the list, I found several more I could enter these into. Fun, fun!!

Saturday, September 25, 2010

My Inkie Fingers is giving away digital images. What you need to do: become a follower, leave a comment on her blog, post a comment mentioning that you found out about it at Creative Happenings-that's it! And you will be entered in to win free digis!

Also, Creative Scrapbooking Divas has a blog hop going on with massive candy as well.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

5 more followers until I hit 25 and give 5 of you wonderful folks a chance to get fun prizes! And a big HELLO! to June from Dezinaworld on being #20! She has challenges, collages, and wonderful images-both freebies and for sale. Be sure to check out her blog!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

I promise. I just worked Monday night (might have posted something Monday), Tuesday and Wednesday 9am-5pm (and very tired upon returning home). Thursday is free-for laundry and grocery shopping (the only day I will have a vehicle this week b/c my husband has it at school. Working Friday 8am-5pm. So I may not see you til Saturday. . . or maybe I will sleep in and clean house instead of craft, who knows. Just know it might be awhile, but I'm not dead.

This one was a quickie. I had made the flower from Penny Duncan's file (although I hardly did it justice) awhile back and was looking for something to put it with. So I picked up the dotted border from Stampin Up (garage sale find last summer!) and printed out a digital stamp.Mine is not nearly as good as hers. Check out her blog, link above, to see the professional version.

In honor of national Talk Like a Pirate Day (tomorrow) I went on a quest of my own today. Inspired by Digi Doodle Shop's challenge, I strove to make a card that can be entered in the most challenges... look below for the card (and below that for the challenges).

Here is the card, in all it's glory:This is a close-up of the dance image. I love her shoes!It took 3 times of printing over, but I finally got the digital stamp to print out with enough wetness to emboss! This one is from Digi Doodles, one of the three to pick for their challenge this week. Sideways view, because you might notice something you missed previously :)The sentiment, charm/tag. I love the mock stitching I added as an afterthought with stickles.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Simply post on your blog about our Fall Blog Hop with a link to CSDivas and you will get a ticket.Also, for every friend who join CSDivas will earn you another ticket!

RULES:1) Post on your blog about our Fall Blog Hop with a link to CSDivas. Right click on the picture and save as to your PC to include it in your post.2) Post a link to your blog post in THIS CHALLENGE thread (see link above), so we can checkout your post and your awesome blog!3) Let your friends know to register in THIS CHALLENGE thread, so we can know who invited her. Provide your friend with your profile name please.4. Post before Sept 23rd.

I like playing tag today! This one is a little different, but still very vintage, at least I don't see very many of these driving around :)The image is from the very Creative Mind of Sylvie, thanks for all you do! The ribbon is RibbonFX (yes, that one is still on its spool). The paper is some I've had since I began scrapbooking, probably from WalMart or Target. The darker brown you see on the edges and behind the image is just a little Prang watercoloring. Challenges:Lots to do- distressed tagsCreative Inspirations- tagsAll Sorts- Autumn colors- brown, red and greenPolly Craft- Fall Colors-brown, red, greenOne Stop Craft Challenge- Fashion throughout the years (I'm sure this was high fashion at some point)

The vintage lady is from Digital Two for Tuesday, there are some great images over there for free, so be sure to check it out! Again, working with the vintage distressed tag theme in mind...The ribbon (as it always seems to be) is just from my stash, the ink is Stampabilities. I distressed the edges using the blade of scissors (I don't have all the fancy tools, so I make do). The paper I painted a long time ago, just playing with it and still had lying around-I think it worked great after I added a touch of brown watercolors to the edges to make it stand out (had I brown ink, I probably would have gone that route, but I use what I have). Challenges-Lots To Do-distressed tagsPolly Craft-autumn colors (yellow, brown and a touch of red and green in the image)One Stop Craft Challenge-Fashion through the yearsAll Sorts-Autumn colors (yellow, brown, green, red, yellow)

I've had my eye on some vintage ladies from Digital Two for Tuesday and the challenge at Lots To Do-distressed tags looked like it would fit perfectly.The green ink is certainly celery from Stampin Up. I inked around the image, on the background paper, inked the ribbon and the top of the paper on the bottom part of the tag (difficult to see in the pictures, I'm sorry about that). Both ribbons are from my stash (hardly any of them have a wrapper still on them with a brand). A couple other challenges (other than the Lots To Do, mentioned above):All Sorts-autumn colors (green and brown)One Stop Craft Challenge-Fashion through the YearsPolly Craft-autumn Colors (brown and green)and that's it-hope you like her!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

For those of you who visit often, this is an important post to take the time to read. If you don't visit often, you will soon be rewarded if you continue to drop by. Currently I have 19 followers-when I hit 25, there will be a surprise for some of you. The when is up to the 6 new followers I need before we hit that number, the what is a secret, the why is because I appreciate your taking the time to view and comment on my artwork, the who is also up to you (to some extent,) as 1/5 of my followers will get something great! I don't like to keep secrets long, so you should hurry up and invite your friends to be my follower!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

I was checking out the blogs I follow and happened upon one that led me to Ellephantastic Blog, and I was impressed. Lots of good stuff to check out, amazing digis and some candy-a whole ton. Check out the picture below. And these digis are also part of the giveaway:

Friday, September 10, 2010

I used the papers left over from my last purse card to make this one for my sister-in-law, she is so into accessories, and I got this idea while making the hinge card.It qualifies for a couple of challenges:Sentimental Sundays-1 sentiment, one solid paper (pink), 2 patterned papers (striped and dots), 3 embellishments (if you look look closely you will see one green brad, one orange brad and one blue brad)Stampin' Royalty- photo inspiration- the triangles coupled with the fabric made me think of a purse and I tried to recreate the button contrast with brads.Stamp Something-Spots and stripes-brads and spotted paper for spots and striped paper for stripes.One Stop Craft Challenge-Fashion through the Years

My initial reason for making this card is that I am participating in a hinge card swap for the month of September (see Creative Inspirations tag on the right side of my blog). I knew I wanted to make a purse, and this is what turned out.

I also wanted to partake in a few challenges, so I tried to include as many as possible :D

Stamp Something wanted me to use spots and stripes together, so I did! I created the stripes with a Stampin' Up stamp from the Love set. Stampin' Royalty had a photo to inspire us, and the triangles coupled with the ribbon laying on the table made me think of the ribbon I used for the handle. Sentimental Sundays always has us use a sentiment. This week they also challenged us to use two patterned papers (the dots and stripes), one solid paper (around my sentiment) and 3 embellishments (which was difficult, but I did it-brads, yellow trim, and golden fringe).

Lots to Do and One Stop Craft Challenge both had butterfly challenges. Needing something else for the purse flap I decided butterflies would do it well. Flutterby Wednesdays always challenges us to use butterflies or fairies, and this week they wanted pink used as well-so I included it in my color scheme.

About Me

I am one of those creative types that disguise it well by teaching children and making cards. How else am I going to get to color, cut and paste?! Honestly, though, art is an important part of life that often gets pushed out of the school districts when they need to cut funds. Sad. In order to teach all students we need to reach all students, and for some students that is through art, music, sports, history, reading etc. Let's use their interests to our advantage!